Safe
by BenquashaFraser
Summary: After the events of 3.16 Shawn has a nightmare and no longer feels safe at home. Where will he go? Spoilers for 3.16 and 3.15.


Hi. Welcome to my first venture into the psych fandom. This can be read as shassie or just caring!Lassie. This is what happens when I watch 3 seasons of Psych in less that a week and then go on a long cycle ride.

This is unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine. There are spoilers for certain parts of 3.14 and 3.15.

I don't own Psych someone richer does.

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"Mom!" Shawn sat bolt upright in bed. The tail end of a scream leaving his mouth. His heart was pounding in his throat and he was drenched from head to toe.

Jumping out of bed as fast as he could, Shawn ran for the bathroom where he proceeded to throw up what was left of last night's popcorn. He ran a shaky hand through his hair and quickly cleaned himself up before putting some cleaner clothes on. He needed to check his mom was safe.

Shawn grabbed his helmet and jacket off the sofa and made his way down to his bike. He fished his keys out of his jacket pocket and started the bike. In a daze he rode to his dad's house, where he knew his mom was staying. A light was on and Shawn could see his dad sitting on a chair in front of a slightly ajar door. He knew that the door led to the bedroom and that there was no way his dad would be sleeping tonight. He was about to shut off his bike when the door opened and his mom came into view. She spoke into Henry's ear. Henry stood, following her back into the bedroom, stopping only to lock his weapon securely in the nearest lock box.

Shawn sighed, turned his bike around and headed home. On the way though he started having difficulty breathing. All he could think was that his home wasn't safe. Yang had been in his office, what if she had been in his home too? What if she had left a little something to get him in case she lost their game? No, he couldn't go home; home wasn't safe any more. While these thoughts ran riot in Shawn's head, his bike headed in the direction of the safest place Shawn knew.

SSCLSSCLSSCLSSCLSSCLSSCL

Carlton Lassiter was working late, almost everyone else had gone home but Carlton had no reason to head home. There was paperwork to do and now that he didn't even have the hope of reconciliation with Victoria, he much preferred to spend his time at work. So when Carlton saw Shawn Spencer walking through what should have been his place of relaxation he was instantly riled.

Before he moved from his partner's desk, from which he had been retrieving some witness statements, he took a moment to study the man who was walking towards his desk. Spencer's face was pale and expressionless, his gaze was unfocused and his hands, no his whole body was trembling. Carlton's irritation quickly became concern as he continued to watch Spencer. He couldn't stop one eyebrow raising when the younger man crawled behind and underneath his desk.

Carlton walked quietly up to his desk and peered over it. Shawn Spencer was curled up as far into the alcove created by the desk as was possible. His arms were wrapped around his bent legs, his head was resting on his knees and, judging by his breathing, he was fast asleep. Carlton made a quick decision, grabbed the paper work he had been looking for off Jules' desk and sat quietly down in his chair. His body creating the fourth wall needed to completely box Shawn in from the world.

An hour passed and Carlton completed his paperwork without a murmur coming from Shawn. He closed the file he was working on and looked down at the sleeping man. Spotting the lone tear track running down Spencer's face, Carlton felt an indescribable need to protect the other man. If later questioned about the next few moments, Carlton would turn bright red and stutter through a denial that they ever happened.

He slid off his chair to sit on the floor next to Spencer. Wrapping his arms around Shawn, Carlton whispered words of comfort and reassurance. Letting him know that he was safe, that everyone was safe. He was only slightly surprised when he felt Shawn wrap his arms around him and bury his head into his shoulder but he just carried on whispering comfort and stroking Shawn's back and head. Eventually he felt the sobbing and shaking stop and Shawn loosened his grip on the detective.

Carlton grabbed his jacket off his chair and held out his hand to Shawn, who took it without hesitation. Pulling Shawn up off the floor, Carlton put is arm around him and guided him down to the parking garage. He manoeuvred the now extremely pliable man into his passenger seat and strapped him in before going around to the drivers seat and getting in. He drove home in silence, his hand holding Spencer's which had started trembling again.

After parking the car, Carlton lead Shawn up to his apartment, and guided him into the spare bedroom. He sat him down on the bed, taking off his shoes and jacket, before encouraging him to lie down. Carlton pulled the cover up over Shawn, pressed a soft kiss to his temple and whispered "good night" to him, then he left the room turning off the light on his way.

It didn't seem like very much time passed before Carlton was stirred from his very light sleep. At first he wasn't sure what had woken him but every instinct was screaming at him to go check on Spencer. Spencer was thrashing about in his bed, crying out "no" over and over again. Carlton wasted no time in striding over to him and placing a hand on Shawn's upper arm.

"It's okay Shawn. You're safe here, everyone is safe." he said softly. Shawn's eyes flew open and Carlton resisted the instinctive reaction to jump back out of Spencer's personal space.

"Lassie!" Shawn exclaimed suddenly. He reached out with both arms and pulled the detective into a tight hug. "Oh God, you're alive. She... the bomb... you..." Shawn sobbed into Carlton's neck. "You saved my mom, but Yang pressed the button and you... Oh God."

Carlton didn't know what else to do but hold the other man close and softly reassure him. Normally he tried to avoid showing that he gave a damn about Shawn Spencer but he wasn't a cold hearted bastard and Spencer so obviously needed someone tonight. When the sobs died down Carlton tried to extract himself from the hug and Shawn instantly rolled away, hugging himself tightly muttering, "safe, safe, safe, safe," over and over.

Sighing and hanging his head for a moment, Carlton decided to do something that had the potential to break his friendship with Shawn come morning. He was sick of living in the past and for the future, anything but living in the moment because he knew what he needed to do in this moment and all other moments could go to hell because this is the one that counts. Carlton shook his head, his thoughts were starting to ramble like a nervous Shawn.

He lifted the cover and slid into the bed, pulling the distraught man close. Shawn instantly wrapped himself around Carlton. Carlton held the other man gently, whispering for him to go to sleep, letting him know that he as safe; letting him know that everyone was safe. Telling him that he would watch over him tonight.

Shawn didn't hear what Carlton said though; he had already fallen into his first peaceful sleep of the night.


End file.
